[00:00:00] Fuzz Martin: Hello, friends, I am Fuzz Martin, and this is Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz, a show that relishes in the positive things happening in and around Washington County, Wisconsin. This podcast began in July of 2021, as negativity really became the Bread and butter of the internet and all the cynicism and fighting really wasn’t gherkin for me.
It really became a jarring experience. So instead of getting salty, I put my nose to the brine stone and launched this show. And now I get to talk to people who are doing fun and positive things around Washington County. Wisconsin, it’s not your Vlasic podcast. As you know, pickleball is becoming a rather big dill, and I’m officially done with the puns now.
Lori Prescott joins me this week to talk about the new business that she and her husband are opening very soon in West Bend. It’s called Vortex Pickleball Club. With that, here are 15 minutes on the Vortex Pickleball Club with Lori Prescott right here on 15 Minutes with Fuzz
All right, Lori, thank you for coming in. First, let’s start by talking a little bit about the sport of pickleball itself It’s been obviously growing in popularity tremendously over the past few years. It seems to be picking up speed and momentum every single year. Why do you think pickleball has become such a popular sport both here in Southeastern Wisconsin and nationally?
[00:01:45] Lori Prescott: Okay. Well, thanks for having me, first of all, and good morning, Fuzz. I think it’s become, or has grown in popularity just because All ages, all skill levels can do this. So even if they haven’t played a sport before or have, you can jump right in and you can become fairly good at it right away out of the gate.
And so, with that, I mean, you need time to improve, to become excellent or a pro player, but anyone can pick this up and play with paddles and balls and friends and get going. Get going right away.
[00:02:16] Fuzz Martin: I have seen, people of all ages, but especially older adults, who are Just cream people. They’re just like, this is their thing now.
Pickleball has become their identity. Let’s talk, how did you get started with pickleball? Where did your passion for this come into play?
[00:02:32] Lori Prescott: Well, so I’ve always played sports in my past too. Volleyball, took on tennis. Then, pickleball became tennis’s sort of rival with people on the courts and things like, I’m not doing that.
And then all of a sudden, like, well, now I’m doing that. Now I’m liking that. It’s different. I like it. And so where we began was just playing with our kids. We were on an Arizona vacation trip and the courts, for basketball, which our sons really enjoyed, started being taken over by pickleball courts.
And so we’re like, Hey, let’s try this. So it began, and so that was like seven, eight years ago, and then it went from there.
[00:03:10] Fuzz Martin: All right, very good. That’s, kind of how I started playing as well, is tennis court got turned into a pickleball court, and I saw some people playing, and then my daughter said, hey, we should play that, so I bought a couple paddles, and, you know, We watched some YouTube videos and trying to figure it out.
So, for those who haven’t played Pickleball, and I know that number of people who haven’t is shrinking, but can you give us an overview of the game? How is it played? How many people play it? Those kind of things.
[00:03:35] Lori Prescott: Sure. So, Usually, it’s played with doubles or doubles on each side. You can play singles as well, but most popular way is to play with a partner.
And what happens is it’s kind of like either an enlarged ping pong court or a Smaller version of a tennis court, so to speak. And so then there’s about two sides. There’s also a place in the kitchen or what’s called the kitchen. It’s close to the net. It’s seven feet off of the net on each side. And if you don’t like cooking, that’s a great spot for you because you can be in that kitchen or can’t be in the kitchen while you play.
So, so what happens as you serve from the baseline? And you serve a cross court to your partner, or I mean to the other team, and they return serve, it has to bounce on that first return, and then you can play out of the air after that. Okay. Most people try to stay out of the kitchen, but really what needs to happen, if you are in the kitchen, the ball just has to bounce once before you touch it.
[00:04:30] Fuzz Martin: Gotcha. Okay. Okay. But it’s Pretty easy to pick up and learn the rules and get going. And, the ball itself is more of a wiffle ball type ball, right?
[00:04:40] Lori Prescott: Sometimes people refer to it as wiffle tennis. Wiffle tennis, all right, all right. Something like that, but yes, it is a wiffle whiffing
[00:04:45] Fuzz Martin: because I’ll just miss completely.
[00:04:47] Lori Prescott: At first, mm hmm.
[00:04:49] Fuzz Martin: Can you, do you know how the name Pickleball came to be? Where did they get the name?
[00:04:54] Lori Prescott: So, you quizzed me on this, so, um, if anyone wants to look it up, there were three gentlemen out in Washington State, and they were bored trying to play badminton. Couldn’t find the right parts, found some ping pong battles and a wiffle ball and a badminton net, and the sport was born.
From there. So they just started to play that way in their backyard.
[00:05:13] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
[00:05:14] Lori Prescott: I believe one of them is a Senator now. So I
[00:05:16] Fuzz Martin: mean,
[00:05:18] Lori Prescott: so it’s taken off from them just screwing around in their backyard. It sounds like,
[00:05:24] Fuzz Martin: And, and big pickleball has taken over. So at least they’ve got a lobby in Congress. The, there, there was a person that I knew that worked in advertising and she quit advertising and started her own pickleball company.
newsletter and marketing stuff, it’s crazy how big this has gotten. Right! And speaking of that, you’re in the process of opening a new club called Vortex pickleball club. So what inspired you to say, you know what, I’m, I’m going to open a pickleball club?
[00:05:53] Lori Prescott: So like I said, we’ve been in the realm of sports before and that social aspect has been an amazing part of both my husband’s and my life, life.
And so, as everyone either is aging or experiencing this new sport, we wanted to create a social, atmosphere for them as well. And so the space was empty. We saw that Boston store sign for a while, which really bugged my husband to have visibly coming into the city of West Bend and we, he wanted to tear it down.
And so Vortex was born. And so when we viewed the spot, the posts lined up, how they had that, the space lined up. And so we went from there and the love of the sport. Drew us in and the love of having social activities as well.
[00:06:38] Fuzz Martin: Very good. So the, the new Vortex Pickleball Club will be in the old Boston store building on the backside, right?
So behind Dunham’s? Correct.
[00:06:46] Lori Prescott: So Dunham’s is on the front facing to Paradise Drive and we are directly behind them in that space.
[00:06:51] Fuzz Martin: All right. Very good. Now Obviously kind of a big open store, what kind of renovations have you had to put in and changes that have you been doing inside that space?
[00:07:01] Lori Prescott: So if you imagine, the Clinique counter’s gone, the jeans shelves gone, shoes gone.
So yeah, all of the shelving that Boston Store had there for their specialty items are now removed. So there was a lot of demo that had to take place, and a building that has been sitting for quite some time needed a little bit of TLC. Um, so the landlords there did help us by putting in a new roof and a new HVAC.
So the air conditioning and heating will be amazing. First, First one out of the gate to be using it at Vortex. So that’s great. Then, we have gone around and made sure obviously all the little things, drywall, the bathrooms that were there, they were quite tiny. So we expanded those for having changing space.
We’ve also added, private shower rooms or restrooms, so that people can shower in those rooms. We’ll add lockers. What we’ve added or what I’ve really enjoyed is. adding the overlook lounge. So we had the opportunity to have seven courts, but we decided on six for that social aspect, making an overlook lounge, having places to sit, having places for people to stay and socialize and communicate and look at everybody else playing the sport or watch them while they’re in a tournament or otherwise.
So we added that. We are having to make it conducive for sight lines. So the front doors or our front doors are very bright. So we have to put up, window stickers so to speak, and block that lighting coming in on to one of our showcoats so that people can see the ball in there. And they’re um, Viewing line.
[00:08:37] Fuzz Martin: I suppose it’s a south facing wall, right? So lots of sunlight.
[00:08:40] Lori Prescott: Right. And so we’ve also done things acoustically to add things to the wall so that the sound dampening happens. We are having permanent nets, we are having prime time floors with the premium floors that you would see outdoor, even on a tennis court.
And so that that bounce is. Specific to pick a ball for the players that are playing it. Uh, we have state of the art lighting that we’ve had to add so that, when you look up for a overhead smash kind of thing that you might be doing, you won’t get blinded by those lights. And so they will, be lined on every court.
And then we also have other things put in place, like I said, acoustically around, um, the building. And most importantly, we’re going to be putting in a bar. All right.
[00:09:23] Fuzz Martin: Very good.
[00:09:23] Lori Prescott: We are in Wisconsin and we do love our refreshments. And so that bar will offer many things, you know, Beverages, spirits, smoothies.
And then, we are putting in a kitchenette as well. So that means that that social aspect, you everybody can bring in meals or snacks to share you, it’s full access to everybody that’s there. Community use. Yeah. And things like that.
[00:09:45] Fuzz Martin: So you want to have a little pickleball party or, those kind of things.
Exactly. You can, yeah. Corporate
[00:09:49] Lori Prescott: event, private event, anything like that as well, or just. Being
[00:09:52] Fuzz Martin: there.
[00:09:53] Lori Prescott: And getting hungry or thirsty.
[00:09:55] Fuzz Martin: I just got an idea for a work event. Thank you very much. You’re welcome. I was looking for stuff for that. So you’re going to offer memberships for Vortex Pickleball Club, right?
So, so you’ll have memberships. Will people have to be members or will they be, there’ll be an option to be. Like a pay per play or things like that as well. Right.
[00:10:11] Lori Prescott: So we’ll have all options. Okay. Mostly we do want you to be a member there, that social aspect. We want you to be a part of the community there at Vortex.
And so, but not everybody might know the sport yet. Mm-Hmm. . They might wanna just try it out. We don’t want to deter anyone from doing that. So of course we’ll have that drop in play, the open play, the skills, instructions, the lessons and et cetera. So yes, there’ll be opportunities for. Either the one timer that will turn into an annual member, possibly, or, you know, monthly memberships as well, just to say, hey, I just want to try this out for a little while and come aboard, but really what we’re hoping for is that annual or VIP membership
[00:10:49] Fuzz Martin: level.
You get hooked and then you’re going to be a Vortex member and yeah. Right. Now, with that. I saw that you guys are going to offer 24 7 access. Is that right?
[00:11:00] Lori Prescott: Correct. So,
[00:11:01] Fuzz Martin: Uh, so it’s kind of going to kind of be like a 24 hour fitness club almost as well. Or did you, will you have like a key fob that you scan in?
[00:11:08] Lori Prescott: Right. So, your phone will be able to access that. You’ll be given a code that way. You can book your courts online as well. So, then you’re generating that code to get in the doors. Only members will have that option to do so for that 24 hour. seven option. However, if you are signing up only as an early bird or a night owl, that would be part of a, a simpler membership that we are offering as well.
So if you’re going off to work and you want to play at 6am or, or you’re getting off work late and you want to play at 10pm, you have that availability to do so as well.
[00:11:39] Fuzz Martin: Awesome. So, I assume you’ll have some security measures in place for the 24 7 on cameras and all that stuff, right?
[00:11:44] Lori Prescott: Correct. So, yes, we will for the safety of everyone coming through the parking lot, especially late at night.
And for the club itself and anyone that’s in it.
[00:11:52] Fuzz Martin: So, is your goal to have Pickleball tournaments and teams or leagues, I guess, is it going to have pickleball league?
[00:11:59] Lori Prescott: Yep. So all of the above. So we will have what I mentioned before, the open play. We will have instruction.
We will have, what has either been called permanent court time in some realms, otherwise leagues, tournaments. Social mixers, and like I said, private events or corporate events, mandatory fun days for anybody in the business realm that wants to come and play for the day.
[00:12:22] Fuzz Martin: Perfect. How do you see Vortex Pickleball Club impacting the local community here in West Bend or broader Washington County area?
[00:12:31] Lori Prescott: I think it’ll bring people that haven’t normally met each other together and, Like I said, we’re just trying to make it that social situation where everybody’s your friend in the community, or tourism, bring other communities in and have that shared experience with them. I’m been getting, message or called from people that are playing out in Mequon, Cedarburg, Germantown, Menomonee Falls, Oconomowoc, Lake Country, et cetera.
So they’re super excited as well. And that’s really great to see because then, It grows. The, the camaraderie, the, socializing, the playing at everybody else’s space, and maybe there can be, some interleague going on, something like that, between clubs even. Sure.
[00:13:14] Fuzz Martin: There was, recently in the village of Kewaskum, we had a pickleball clinic, and that was just packed with people that came from all around just to, learn how to play the game or learn some new tips and those kind of things.
And people, again, love it. So, obviously. Great idea opening a pickleball club. Can you share some of maybe your personal stories or experiences that you’ve had with pickleball or the community of pickleball that have, kind of made you love the sport more?
[00:13:40] Lori Prescott: So, with that, like I said, when I was playing volleyball, you play at certain levels and things like that as well, or tennis, and pickleball, I’m sure will be that as well.
However, with the, openness that pickleball can draw in like what you said. Anyone can play. Your 80 year old grandmother, your 15 year old son, everybody can play and then it become a part of this pickleball family, so to speak. And that’s what I’ve seen. Like, if it hasn’t, like, maybe that’s your sport as a volleyball, maybe tennis is your sport, maybe soccer, basketball, pickleball, it seems like it’s everybody’s sport.
So that’s what’s so fun to see. Yeah. Everyone want to enjoy it.
[00:14:19] Fuzz Martin: Yes. It’s kind of, yeah, it’s a, it’s a great sport for all around. What kind of community events or programs do you see having at Vortex Pickleball?
[00:14:28] Lori Prescott: So, Fuzz, as you may know, my day job is Family Promise of Washington County, a homeless organization in the area.
And so we are always working off of donations and things like that. So, Myself would be interested in having a pickleball tournament for Family Promise and raising funds that way. But I’ve also been approached by other civic groups and other, non profit groups that want to raise funds and have a pickleball tournament.
I know there’s one for Alzheimer’s, the Senior Center has asked. Rotary Club has asked, et cetera. And then furthermore, corporate events, those mandatory fun days that I was joking about. However, West Bend Mutual Insurance has already reached out to have two different events for two different, groups that they have at their business.
And then Delta Defense is in our backyard, and I know they participate in mandatory fun days, so they’ll be there as well. And you just mentioned that you are going to have a work party there.
[00:15:16] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, so yeah, I think we, we do a it’s called GEST meetings which is a Get EPIC’s and I’ll just say Stuff Together which is our quarterly meeting when, so we’ll have a mandatory fun event and then a, you know, we’ll go through our financials and all the, you know, things that are going on at the company.
So we’re always looking for a place to do these kind of things. And, you know, we’ve done bowling, we’ve done, you know, hikes, we’ve done non profit kind of events and this pickleball will be a great idea. So, I’ll be passing this along to Lindsey from our team very soon. If somebody has never played the sport, the game of Pickleball, And they want to get started.
What is the best way to do so?
[00:16:00] Lori Prescott: So we’re using an application called Court Reserve and they can always look at either our website, call us for that information, or book a time on Court Reserve to get that sort of instruction. Okay. And know exactly when they can do that based on their schedules and when we’re open to do so.
[00:16:17] Fuzz Martin: Okay.
[00:16:18] Lori Prescott: So that would be the way to do that.
[00:16:19] Fuzz Martin: Very good. Your, your club itself is, Opening very soon, right? When will that be open?
[00:16:24] Lori Prescott: September.
[00:16:25] Fuzz Martin: Okay. And, if people want to learn more about Vortex Pickleball Club, what’s the best way to learn more information or stay in touch to get some updates on when you’re opening?
[00:16:35] Lori Prescott: Sure. So we have our website available to you. So that is www. vortexpickleball. rocks. com.
[00:16:44] Fuzz Martin: Cool. And,
[00:16:46] Lori Prescott: and, and then our phone number is 262 5 VORTEX and the other ways to do that is through social media. So far it’s Facebook and, and Instagram until we branch out to the others and get those prepared for everybody to reserve.
We also have our own personal, VORTEX app through court reserve. Court Reserve. So you can go on Google Play or Apple and look up the app and then book and find out more that way as well.
[00:17:12] Fuzz Martin: Alright, very good. So again, opening in September, it’s vortexpickleball. rocks? Correct. That’s the, URL. And they, that’s a very fun instead of dot com.
So, so 2002. Um, so vortexpickleball. rocks, also on Facebook and Instagram. First of all, good luck with this. This is a super cool idea that you’re bringing to West Bend. You and your husband, what is your husband’s name? Patrick. All right. Uh, that you and Patrick are bringing to West Bend. I wish you the best of luck and I hope this is a huge success.
[00:17:44] Lori Prescott: Well, thanks for having me, Fuzz, and thanks for getting the word out for us.
[00:17:46] Fuzz Martin: Absolutely. Thank you again to Lori Prescott of Vortex Pickleball Club for joining me on this week’s episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. I am very excited for their new business to open and I can’t wait to get out there to play.
If you ever have an idea for a guest for this show, send it my way, fuzz at fuzzmartin. com. That is fuzz at fuzzmartin. com. You can also text me or leave me a voicemail at 262 299 FUZZ. That is 262 299 FUZZ. 3 8 9 9, or use the suggested guest form fuzz. cc slash guest. That is fuzz. cc slash guest. See so many ways to get in touch.
New episodes coming on Tuesdays, all available at fuzzmartin. com, Spotify, Apple podcasts. YouTube or whichever app you prefer podcasts in. Next week I’m joined by Buck Blodgett of the Love Is Greater Than Hate Project for some updates on their organization and I’ll talk to you then, right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
